


Hiding in Plain Sight

by Authentic_Otter



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, F/M, Personal post-Endgame headcanon, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 14:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19014379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Authentic_Otter/pseuds/Authentic_Otter
Summary: Steve Rogers has six of the most powerful artifacts in the galaxy, and the first thing he does with them is to right a major wrong.





	Hiding in Plain Sight

The soldier wasn’t taking no for an answer.  
“A soul for a Soul,” he said, as he flipped the hammer end over end, its wooden handle smacking soundly into his palm each time. “Easy enough.”  
“But—” The caretaker tried to lick his lips and failed.  
“That’s the law,” the soldier said. “I’m giving you one, so I get one in return.”  
The caretaker didn’t understand any of this. He had been _free!_ Finally, wondrously _free!_ He had felt the bonds upon him break when the woman died. And then—  
“It doesn’t work like that!” The caretaker’s words ended in a whine, and he hated himself for it.  
“Yes, it does,” said the soldier, as he held out his hand. A speck of golden light lifted into the air, and disappeared.  
The bonds snapped tight around the caretaker’s own soul once more. He screamed, and the spy at the bottom of the cliff stirred.

***********

They went drinking, the soldier and the spy. They spoke of funerals, or the lack thereof, and the uncertain future which spread before them. They had no answers except for one: No more Earth. They were done with Earth. They had already given their homeworld everything, and besides, there were entire solar systems who didn’t have heroes of their own.  
The Power Stone was returned, and then the Reality Stone. The spy insisted she didn’t need the temptation; the soldier laughed and said she wasn’t tempted, not really. The Mind Stone was fun for a while, but neither of them felt it suited them, and the soldier said it belonged to someone else and it missed him.  
Time and Space belonged to them.  
They kept the hammer, too.

***********

“He did this for two years,” the spy said, shaking her head. She was impressed and horrified at the same time. “Two _years!_ ”  
Below, the monster lifted a foot. When it came down, the stadium broke into a joyous roar which masked the sound of the crunch.  
“He’s really good,” the soldier said, his attention fixed on the ceiling. Casual murder turned his stomach.  
“Two years,” the spy chuckled. “I don’t think he needs our help after all.”  
“No.” There was another roar from the crowd. The soldier thought he might throw up. “No, he does not.” 

***********

After that, they found they could talk of closure.  
“She was perfect,” the soldier said, his eyes fixed on the past. And then he looked across the table, to where the spy was cutting into her dinner with a surgeon’s precision. “I thought she was perfect.”  
She caught him looking, and smiled.

***********

It was a dance hall in wartime. It should have felt like home.  
She was stunning. When they spun across the floor together, it was a perfect moment.  
And then it was over.  
“Are you sure?” the spy asked him, as they walked into the shadows together.  
“She made a life for herself,” he replied. “I’d never take that away from her.” After a moment, as if it had just now occurred to him, he added, “And I’ve made a life for myself, too.”

***********

The hammer always felt right in his hand. In battle, he called the lightning, and when each fight was over, he thanked it for its help.  
One day, he fell. A lucky shot made by a warrior barely old enough to hold a gun, right into the meat of his leg. The hammer dropped to the ground beside him.  
As he tried to stand, she picked up the hammer and called the lightning.  
When that last fight was over, they went to the shining city. She laid the hammer in its cradle and whispered, “Thank you.”  
That was the only time he ever saw her cry.

***********

Back to Earth.  
It would always end on Earth.  
They were older now. It was easy to hide in plain sight when the world thought you were thirty years younger than you were.  
They opened a bar by the sea. During the day when he worked the floor, he insisted on good manners. His customers were always polite. It was a place where parents could take young children for a good meal.  
The customers who weren’t polite waited until she took over on the night shift, and then the fun began.

***********

One bright morning, she looked at herself in the mirror, and said they needed to divest themselves of Time and Space.  
Then, they went home.  
She waited outside, and listened through the mike as he gave them both the last piece of closure they’d ever need.  
Old friends ask about his new ring.  
She runs her left thumb over the matching band on her own finger as he tells them that it’s none of their business.

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to see if I could poke some major character problems in _The Avengers: Endgame_ into shape in under 750 words. Went a little over.


End file.
